Too few internal links: orphan pages and the hub-and-spoke fix

What it is

Internal links are <a> tags within your site that point to other pages on the same site. They distribute "link equity" (PageRank) across your URLs, tell crawlers what each page is about, and help users navigate. Orphan pages have no inbound internal links.

Why it matters

Pages with strong internal link signals rank substantially higher for the same content. A hub-and-spoke structure (one comprehensive "pillar" page linking to 10–20 narrow "spoke" pages, each linking back to the pillar and to relevant siblings) is the proven pattern.

How to fix it

1. Identify orphan pages. A site crawler will list URLs with zero inbound internal links. Cross-check with your sitemap to find pages that exist but are unreachable from any navigation.
2. Add contextual links from related posts. For each orphan, find 3 thematically-related existing pages and add a sentence linking to the orphan. Anchor text should be descriptive, not "click here".
3. Build pillar pages. For each major topic, create one comprehensive page that links out to every related sub-topic page. The sub-pages should also link back to the pillar.
4. Audit deep navigation. No URL should be more than 3 clicks from your homepage. If it is, restructure the navigation or add a relevant hub.